


The Gray Lady

by paperwaster



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt Sammy Winchester, Hurt/Comfort, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-10
Updated: 2013-10-10
Packaged: 2017-12-29 00:31:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/998720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperwaster/pseuds/paperwaster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam and Dean are stuck in Evansville, Indiana while John's away on a job. Dean's found himself a girl and doesn't have time for his younger brother. Sam overhears a conversation between the two and decides to prove that he doesn't have to be taken care of by going on his first salt and burn alone. It should be simple, but they're the Winchesters, so it's not</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Gray Lady

**Author's Note:**

  * For [randomslasher @tumblr](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=randomslasher+%40tumblr).



> AN: This is for randomslasher, based on the wish for a story in which Sam overhears Dean say something bad about Sam when he doesn’t know that Sam is listening.   
> Dean is 15, Sam is 11. 
> 
> The Gray Lady is an actual ghost who haunts the Willard Library in Evansville, Indiana. While I have been to Indiana I have never been to Evansville. All the places mentioned by name are real places, but I have no idea if the actual geography is accurate, I have changed it to suit the story. For more on the Gray Lady you can go to www.libraryghost.com

Sam smelled Missy’s dollar store perfume before he saw her and Dean leaning against the lockers. He didn’t know how Dean had hooked up with a girl so fast, Sam was still trying to find someone who would let him sit at the same lunch table. It didn’t help that he had spent their first week in Evansville at Harwood Middle School before they decided he should attend Central High with Dean. Always being the new kid was bad enough, but now he was the Super Genius Freak and the smallest kid in the entire school. Missy saw Sam and her eyes narrowed.   
“Come on Dean, I have cheerleading at five.”  
“I told you, I have to wait for my pain in the ass little brother.”  
“Why, my sister’s younger than him and she goes home by herself.”  
“Look, you gotta know that I’d rather be hanging out with you, but I got to do this first. My Dad would kick my ass.”

Sam paused with his hand on his combination lock. Dean called him a pain in the ass a half a dozen times a day. It was no big deal, except Sam had never heard him tell someone else that he was a pain in the ass. Sam got his geometry textbook out of his bottom locker and crammed it into his backpack. He hitched it onto one shoulder and walked past Dean and Missy.   
“Hey, squirt, where do you think you’re going?  
Without turning around, Sam said, “I have a research project at the library. I’ll catch the bus and see you at home.”  
“I’ll meet you at the library at five. Don’t forget X-Files tonight.”  
“Whatever.”

Sam cut through Willard Park to get to the library. He paused about halfway to take a good look. The Willard Library was a Victorian Gothic. Knowing that sort of thing, got Sam beat up, but he appreciated buildings with a sense of history. They had a permanence that his family’s nomadic lifestyle lacked. The slate gray sky caused the lights of the library to seem warm and inviting. Sam quickened his pace. He yanked on the front door with both hands to get it to open enough so that he could squeeze through. He breathed in leather bindings and old paper. Sam relaxed in the silence and the solitude. He found a table next to one of the windows and put his backpack down in the chair. He should be studying geometry, but he couldn’t concentrate with what Dean had said still rattling around in his brain. So, he went to the shelves to grab something to read. It didn’t take him long to locate one of his favorites. He chose one of Neil Gaiman’s short story collections, Smoke and Mirrors. He didn’t have a library card and he had read this one before, so it wouldn’t be much of a sacrifice when he left it behind. He also chose Good Omens, just in case he decided to read something new. He returned to the table he’d picked out. There was a woman in a pink cardigan standing next to the table with her arms crossed. She had long blonde hair and she seemed friendly. Sam wondered if Dean would think she looked like Mom. Sam wasn’t sure what Mom had looked like but he didn’t want to upset Dean or his Dad by asking too many questions. She stared at him as he placed the books on the table.  
“I don’t think I’ve seen you here before.”  
Sam swallowed, “No m’am. We just moved to town two weeks ago, so-”  
“You’re a little early for Miss Conners History of Evansville project. Do you have a library card?”  
“No m’am.”  
“Well, come with me and we’ll get you all set up.”  
They went to the smaller service desk in the Children’s area and Sam handed her his student I.D. The librarian looked up at him surprised.  
“Central High? Well then, you’ll be doing the Geneology project instead.”  
“Geology project?”  
“Oh yes, Willard is famous as a research library for local history as well as Geneology. With a name like Winchester you shouldn’t have too much difficulty.” “Thanks.”  
“Now, you have a couple of books to check out?”  
“Yes, m’am.”

Sam slipped Good Omens next to his Geometry book and settled into Smoke and Mirrors. He decided to read Snow Glass Apples first, he enjoyed vampire stories, since those were monsters his Dad had told him were extinct. He was so engrossed in the story that he failed to notice that the librarian continued to glance in his direction. 

Sam heard Dean before he came into his line of sight. Dean always took the Quiet Please signs as a personal challenge.   
“Hey Poindexter, let’s go, I am not missing X-Files, so keep up.”  
Sam made a point of taking his time as he zipped the backpack closed and got to his feet. As he passed the desk, the librarian said, “Good night Sam, I hope to see you again soon.”  
He flashed a dimpled grin and ducked his head. Dean took the backpack and slung it over one shoulder. He put his other arm around his little brother. “What do you think about pizza tonight?”  
“No onion.”  
“You gotta have your vegetables Sammy.”

Angela Garfield watched them walk towards the bus stop. The older one still had his arm around Sam’s shoulder. Neither one of them looked back, so they didn’t realize anyone was watching. The sun dipped below the horizon and Sam must have been cold because the taller one slipped his leather jacket off and put it around Sam’s shoulders before pulling him closer. They got on the bus that went all the way out to that Value place motel next to the highway. The temperature in the room dropped. A familiar tug on her earring caught Angela’s attention. “I know, he’s perfect. Don’t worry, he’ll be back.”

 

The bus dropped them at the Value Place motel. It was better than most of the places they usually stayed. It was cleaner for one thing, with a kitchen and a desk for Sam to do his homework on. It had two beds, something that Dean was happier about than Sam, and their room had the added bonus of being right next to the laundry room, so they didn’t have to be super quiet so as not to attract attention. They were sitting on Dean’s bed, an extra-large meat lovers(Sam hadn’t felt like arguing) between them. The familiar theme music started. Dean crowed when he saw the title, “The Jersey Devil.”  
“That’s a real thing, you know Sammy.”  
That was a fact that Sammy didn’t need to know. He finished his pizza and retrieved his Geometry book. Instead of sitting down at the desk, Sam sat down on the bed again next to Dean. When the commercial came on, Dean glanced over at his younger brother.  
“You know Sammy, if you gave the studying a rest once in a while you might not get beat up so much.”  
“Just watch your show Dean.”  
Sam glanced up at the screen every once in a while, but he kept his book in front of him even after he finished the assignment. When the episode was over, they both took a shower. Dean went first, like always. When Sam finished, Dean was already in bed. He had already turned off the florescent overhead so that the only light in the room was coming from the lamp by the beds.  
Dean waited until Sam was under the covers before he asked, “Lights on or off?”  
“Off.”  
Dean clicked off the lamp. “You sure you’re not scared Sammy?”  
“It’s Sam.”  
“Ok, goodnight bitch.”  
“Goodnight, ya jerk.”

Sam waited for Dean’s breathing to deepen and develop a rhythm before he got out of bed. He dug around in the duffle bag until he found the mini maglite and then he got Good Omens out of his backpack. The dark didn’t scare him and X-Files was stupid. It was just that it made him think about Dad. If Dad wasn’t with them he was hunting and maybe this time he wouldn’t make it back. Sam opened his book and began to read about a demon named Crowley.

“Rise and shine, slugbutt.”  
“Leave me alone Dean.”  
“Come on Sammy, it’s after ten and I need to talk to you before I take off.”  
“Where you going?”  
“Missy and I are going to hang out. Don’t make the face. How about Thai for dinner?”  
“Peanut noodles.”  
“What?”  
“Bring me back some peanut noodles.”  
Dean grinned. “I owe you Sammy.”  
“You know you do.”  
“Double peanut noodles. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”  
“As if.”

When Sam woke for the second time it was 11:30. He got up and made a bowl of cereal, using the last of the milk. He turned on the TV and surfed through the channels. He clicked off the TV and made Dean’s bed. He repacked his backpack and sat down on Dean’s bed. There wasn’t even any laundry to do since they had done it on Wednesday night. He’d finished Good Omens at three this morning. He was out of things to do. He looked at the book in his hands and decided to make a trip to the library. He’d be back long before Dean showed up, so he didn’t bother to leave a note. 

The Willard Library was as silent and empty as it had been the day before. Sam returned the two books he had borrowed and then wandered through the shelves looking at different volumes at random, but nothing caught his interest. He decided to go to the second floor to see what there was up there when someone called out to him.  
“Hello Sam.”  
Sam turned and smiled as he saw the librarian that he had met the day before. She was smiling, but it didn’t reach her eyes and Sam took a step back.  
“I didn’t expect you back quite so soon.”  
“I finished my books so I thought I might get something else to read.”  
“So what do you like to read?”  
“Everything.”  
“If only everyone made my job so easy. Follow me.”  
Sam did not notice that Angela bit back a smile as he trotted after her. “Did you like Good Omens?” “Yes, yes I did.”  
“Do you like mythology or just angels and demons?”  
“All of that kind of thing I guess.”  
“Then I think that you will enjoy The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper.”  
Angela took down the five volume set from the shelf.  
“I can’t take all of them at once.”  
“Trust me, no one will miss them and as fast as you go, they’ll be back before the due date I’m sure.”  
Sam, but he has no poker face at all and this time and that earned him a genuine smile from Angela. They walked together to the Circulation Desk. Angela stacked the books as she checked them out. Looking at the stack, Sam regretted that he hadn’t brought his back pack. Angela seemed to read his mind, because she reached under the counter and produced a brown paper grocery bag. She put the books in the bag and rolled the top down. “There you go Sam, I guess I’ll see you on Monday, unless-”  
“Unless?”  
“I’ve got some shelving that needs to be done, if you wouldn’t mind helping. That way I could get some new materials ready to put into circulation.”  
Sam checked the clock on the wall behind her. It was a little after two pm. He had plenty of time before he had to be back at the motel. Dean probably wouldn’t even show up right at five anyway.  
“Sure.”  
“I’m sure you know the Dewey Decimal system.”  
“Yes, m’am.”  
“Angela.”  
“Angela.”  
“The push cart and the elevator’s right there if you need it.”

Sam put the biography of the Queen Mother in its place. He only had a few cookbooks to shelve and then he’d be finished. He headed towards the 813 shelves. As he pushed the cart in front of him, Sam had the sensation that someone was walking behind him. He turned expecting to see Angela, but he was still alone on the second floor. He put the last of the books on the shelf when something touched his hair. Sam tried to swat it away. The temperature dropped and he shivered in the sudden iciness. He hadn’t ever dealt with something like this, but from all the stories his Dad and Dean told him or the ones he had overheard at Bobby’s he was sure, at least 95 % sure, that there was a ghost right behind him. Sam left the pushcart where it was and started walking towards the stairs. The lights above him flickered. Sam told himself not to run. The shelves began to shake. His heart beat faster. Books began to drop from the shelves as his sneakered feet hit the stairs. 

There was no sign of Angela when he reached the bottom of the stairs. He grabbed the paper bag full of books and ran for the front doors. He was on the bus and headed back towards the motel before his heart rate began to slow down. Sam kicked the back of the empty seat in front of him. That earned a glare from the bus driver, but Sam didn’t care for once. His brother never would have run like a scared little girl. No wonder Dean called him a bitch almost as often as he said Sam. It was just a salt and burn. Dad let Dean handle those on his own now. Dean and Dad treated him like a baby, stuck him with research they didn’t really need while they went out and saved people. Well, today was the day that changed. 

It was after five o’clock when Sam unlocked the door to their room. Dean hadn’t returned just as Sam had predicted earlier. Sam dropped the bag of books on the bed and headed for the salt underneath the sink. The five pound bag was too heavy to take with him. Besides carrying it on the bus would attract attention. Dean had taken the gun with him so salt rounds were out of the question. Sam rifled through the duffles until he found a small can of lighter fluid. Sam didn’t find the Zippo either, Dean probably had that as well. He almost discarded the plan when he found some long kitchen matches in one of the kitchen drawers. He took a handful of Ziplock sandwich bags and filled them with salt. He dumped the books out on the bedspread and poured a generous amount of salt into the bottom of the bag. Sam’s hand was on the doorknob when the phone rang. Sam put the bag down next to the door and answered it.  
“Hello?”  
“Sam, how you boys doin’ ?”  
“Good Bobby, how are you?” “I’m your Daddy’s message service these days. Things got a little complicated on the job he’s workin’ so he might not be back for another week, maybe two. How are you boys fixed for money and supplies?”  
“I don’t know exactly, Dean’s got the cash but the cabinets are full. It’s a pretty nice motel  
“That’s good to know, can I speak to Dean?”  
“He’s not here right now, but-”  
“What’s her name?”  
“Missy and she smells like grape bubble-yum. It’s gross.”  
“Well you tell Romeo to call me when he comes in.”  
“Sure thing Bobby. Um, do you have to have iron when you hunt a ghost?”  
“It helps, but it’s the salt and burn that’s the most important. Why you askin’?”  
“Just reading Dad’s journal.”  
“Ok, well have Dean call me and you boys stay safe.”  
“Will do Bobby.”

Dean cursed as he stepped in a puddle he hadn’t seen in the dark. Missy and her friends had dropped him by the side of the road after he told them he couldn’t go to the game. Missy crossed her arms and pouted until Dean had promised to hook up with them later at the pizza place on 1st. He was nowhere near the Thai place, so no peanut noodles for Sammy tonight. He’d make sure they had some tomorrow, maybe he’d even spend the whole day with the squirt. Dean’s boots made squishing sounds as he made his way down the hall to their room. He banged on the door.   
“Come on Sam, I know you’re pissed, I’m sorry ok, just let me in.”  
When the door didn’t open, Dean pressed his ear to it. It was too quiet, even if Sam were reading or had been asleep, Dean had made enough noise to wake him. Dean pulled his lock pick out of his jacket pocket.   
“Hey Sam, it’s just me, “ Dean said to an empty room. He saw the books scattered on the bed and figured Sam had just gone to get something to eat out of the vending machines. Then he saw the paper propped up on the phone. Call Bobby.

“Hey Bobby, what’s up?”  
“Dean?”  
“Yeah, Sam left me a message said to call you.”  
“What do you mean, left you a message. He’s not there with you?”  
“I just got here, room was empty, I saw the note so I figured he must be with you.”  
“Why would he be with me, ya idjit? Where are you boys anyway?”  
“Evansville, Indiana.”  
“Hold on.”  
Dean held the phone for a few minutes. He could hear Bobby turning pages.   
“Sam, being Sam the first thing he did when you guys rolled into town was check out the library right?”  
“Yeah, I guess so.”  
“Balls. The little idjit.”  
“Bobby what’s wrong?”  
“I think your brother’s off trying to salt and burn his first ghost .”  
“Sam?”  
“There are ghosts in the Willard library, nobody’s bothered with it because there hasn’t been any trouble.When I talked to Sam a little while ago he was asking me some questions about ghosts. “ “He’s a smart kid Bobby. He wouldn’t do anything stupid.”  
“He’s a Winchester. I’m on my way.”  
“Where are you?”  
“Hopkinsville, Kentucky. I’ll be there in a couple of hours.”  
Dean stood there and listened to the dial tone for a few minutes. He looked around the room a second time. Looking carefully this time, he saw the salt spilled by the kitchen cabinet. Sam wasn’t ready for this and he wasn’t going to wait for Bobby, he couldn’t.

It was surprisingly easy to pick the lock of the front door of the Willard Library. Sam slipped inside. Bobby said the most important thing was to burn the bones. So where would they be? They might not even be here, but instinct told Sam that this was the place to start. He gripped the bag of salt tighter. He had sensed the ghost on the second floor, so that was where he was going to start. He’d be in and out in no time. Dean wouldn’t even realize that he’d left the motel. He started climbing the stairs to the second floor, no way was he going to take the elevator. Trapped inside a metal box with no place to go, bad idea. 

The pushcart was where he had left it. Books littered the floor. Sam decided to begin to shelve some of them. He supposed that was what had attracted the ghost’’s attention earlier today. He grabbed a handful of books and got started. He had shelved almost everything that had been scattered when he caught a whiff of perfume. Expensive ,old lady perfume. Sam felt a cold hand on his neck. The ghost was here. Now he just had to find her bones. It made sense that they must be here somewhere on the second floor. This is where he had met the ghost both times. Sam started walking carefully through the stacks. He felt cold air nipping at his heels. Sam wasn’t sure if the ghost following him was a good thing, but he kept going. It was dark in the library now and his flashlight wasn’t giving off as much light as Sam needed. There was a ladder at the end of one of the shelves, the kind that was attached at the top of the shelves. He put his foot on the lower rung and it gave a little in the center as if the wood was beginning to rot. The ladder might be as old as the building, but he didn’t weigh a lot and if he kept his feet on the edges of the rungs it should be safe enough. Sam climbed to the top of the ladder and tracked his beam of light from left to right. Nothing seemed like it was the right location to store bones. A hand, a human hand, grabbed him by his belt and yanked him downwards. Sam grabbed the top of the shelf His left foot slipped and landed in the middle of a rung. It gave and he lost his grip. The rungs continued to snap. His left calf was on fire and hot sticky blood began to rain down into his shoe. He would have fallen flat on his back, if Angela hadn’t been holding him by up by his pants.   
“Sam, you’ve made this so easy. Thank you.”  
“What?”  
Angela dragged him to the elevator and threw Sam inside the ancient contraption and slammed the gate shut.   
“You just stay put.”  
Sam did just that, for a moment. He heard his Dad’s voice in his head. “Don’t just lay there boy. Get moving, you just going to let some monster eat you?”  
He wasn’t going to be monster chow, especially girl monster chow. Dean would never let him forget it. 

Dean was moving towards the door before the bus even came to the stop.   
“Last bus is at 9:30,” the bus driver yelled after him. Dean took his lock pick out of his pocket when just on a whim, he decided to try the door. It opened easily. That meant that Sammy was definitely here. Dean bit down the urge to start calling his brother’s name. No point in advertising his presence if there was something besides Sammy here. He did a quick sweep of the lobby and the first floor. No sign of anyone or anything. He was about to start up the stairs to the second floor when his attention was drawn towards the elevator. The grille had been drawn over the ancient contraption, probably when they closed up for the day. He gave it a good shake. He turned away when he heard, “Dean?”  
Dean rushed back and grabbed the grille of the elevator. “Sammy, you in there?”  
“Yeah Dean.  
“Bobby said, are you really ghost hunting ?”  
Sam sighed, “Yeah.”  
“Well, look at you, no training wheels or anything. It trap you in there?”  
“No Dean, you need to be careful.”  
Dean heard strain, not fear in Sammy’s voice. “Sam, you ok?”  
“Yeah, but you, be careful, lib-”  
“I know there’s a ghost, but first-”  
“No, Angela-”  
“Who’s Ang-” Dean started to ask, as he felt a sharp pain on the back of his head. His limp body crashed against the gate.  
“Two new companions, won’t she just be pleased as punch.”

Sam tried to stand, he had to help Dean. A wave of dizziness descended and the pain in his leg caused dark spots to dance in front of his eyes. He lurched forward, crashing into the latticed metal door. Everything started to fade as he slumped to the floor.

Angela took both boys to the basement and locked them in. It took more time than she had anticipated because the one dressed like James Dean was heavy, but she could have carried Sam if she chose. She dragged him as well, ignoring the moans the semi-conscious boy made as his wounded leg was jostled. Angela did not stop, she couldn’t. A hard heart was the only thing that was going to get her through this. She had not expected Sam back tonight so she was going to have to run back home and get the knife. Someone pounded on the front door of the library. Angela decided to ignore it. The pounding became more insistent so she decided to deal with it. She wanted no distractions when she came back. 

Bobby Singer pulled out one of his fake badges and started banging on the door of the Willard library like a fool. He hadn’t even swung by the motel. If Sam was ghost hunting then Dean was here too. There was no way that boy had waited for him to get into town. No patience, just like his Daddy. The other thing he could count on was that the job wouldn’t go smooth. They had their Daddy’s luck. He was just about to start picking the lock when a woman who looked like Marian the Librarian opened the door.   
“Sir, our hours are clearly posted on the door.”  
“Agent Crosby. I’m sorry but we’re looking for two boys that have gone missing. The youngest is a real book lover.”  
“Truth be told, I hate to say this, but no one came to the library today. If it wasn’t for that silly ghost story, they would have shut us down years ago.” The woman began to close the door and then stopped. “ A young man did come in Friday, but I haven’t seen him since.”  
“Thank you m’am, sorry to have troubled you.”  
Bobby went down the steps and went around the corner. Everything that woman had told him was bull crap. Those boys were in that library and he was going to get them out and God help that woman if she got in his way.

Dean woke up on a hard, cold cement floor. He sat up only to find that a circle of salt had been drawn around him.   
“Careful Dean,” Sam panted from behind him.   
Dean, careful not to disturb the salt line, turned and looked at his little brother. The moon was the only source of light, even so. Sam looked pale.  
“Sammy, “  
“Stay there Dean. I, I found the bones, I just gotta burn ‘em.”  
Dean watched as Sam dragged himself towards a cast iron stove in the corner of the room. He opened the small oven door. The bones were sitting in the grate.  
“We don’t have any more salt, “ Dean said.  
Sam grinned at his brother as he stuck his hand into his pocket. He pulled out a sandwich bag of salt. He poured it on the bones.   
“How did you?”  
“While I was in the elevator, put it in my pockets, my shoes, everywhere.”  
They grinned at each other. Dean could see his breath.   
“She’s on her way. LIght it up.”  
“I lost the matches.”  
Dean reached into his front right pants pocket and pulled out his Zippo. He tossed it to Sam.   
The ghost, a gray lady if he’d ever seen one. barreled towards Sam. Just before she reached him, she stopped short. Dean laughed, his little brother must be coated in salt. The kid had some dumb luck. Sam scooted on his butt until he was close enough to the iron stove. He flicked the lighter a few times and then lit the bones. The ghost disappeared.   
“Way to go, Sammy.”  
Sam smiled weakly and leaned against the wall. Now that Dean didn’t have to worry about the ghost, he went straight to his brother’s side.  
“Ok Sammy, job’s done. Let’s go.”  
Sam didn’t move.   
“Sammy?”  
“Sorry, you might have to help me. My leg really hurts.”  
Dean turned on one of the brightly colored reading lamps before helping his brother up. He put Sam’s arm around his shoulder and helped him limp over to a table. Dean sat him down and said, “Sam, I’m going to take a quick look, I’ll do my best not to hurt you.”  
Sam nodded and pressed his lips together. Dean knelt down. The left leg of Sam’s jeans was ripped and Dean saw dried blood and what looked like a piece of wood in Sam’s leg.   
“Sam how the Hell? What did that crazy bitch do to you?”  
“I fell down a ladder.”   
That made no sense to Dean, but he didn’t feel like figuring it out right now. He took a deep breath and coughed. He noticed that the room had started to fill with smoke. Sam started coughing too. Dean looked over at the stove and saw it was billowing smoke. He covered his nose and mouth with his hand. He couldn’t put the fire out, but there was a small dial. He grasped it with his hand. It was hot. He spun it quickly before pulling his hand away. It was pink, but not burnt. He stumbled back to Sam. The room was still hazy, but he picked up Sam and headed for the door.   
“I’m not a baby.”  
“Shut up, this is quicker.”  
The door was locked.   
Dean put Sam down on the floor. “Don’t go anywhere.”  
“Hilarious,” Sam said as he shut his eyes.  
“No, don’t go to sleep on me Sam, Sammy you here me?”  
“”Aren’t you supposed to be opening the door?”  
“Shut up, bitch.”  
“You first, jerk.”

Bobby watched the librarian leave. Now he had to get inside, find the boys and get the three of them out of there. It should be an easy thing now that the building was empty, so to speak, but nothing with those two idjits was ever as easy as it should be. The lock turned easily which meant it had been picked before and Bobby had an educated guess as to who had done the picking. The library had a strong familiar smoky smell to it. Bobby followed his nose. He found a locked door and banged on it. “Boys?”  
“Bobby?” Dean’s voice replied.  
“Stand back from the door.”   
Bobby didn’t have time for the subtle credit card move. He got a crowbar and a hammer from his duffle and smashed the lock.   
Dean picked up Sam and this time his younger brother didn’t protest. “My truck’s around the corner, go Dean, I’ll be there in a minute.”  
There were times when Bobby disagreed with the way John Winchester raised his boys, but he was grateful that Dean did as he was told without question. Bobby removed what traces of them he could. He headed for the front door when he saw her. The librarian was trembling with rage. 

Walking past her wasn’t going to work. So he was going to have to try and reason with her, though she didn’t look very reasonable.  
“We don’t need any trouble here. The boys are gone, so let’s just go our separate  
ways.”  
The woman walked past him as if she hadn’t heard or seen him. Bobby started moving towards the front door when he heard the woman start wailing. 

The boys were waiting in the truck, but Bobby knew he wouldn’t breathe easy until they were out of Evansville.   
“Dean, when we get to the motel, leave Sam with me and get your stuff.”  
“Bobby, we need to patch Sam up first.”  
Bobby glanced over at Sam who was laying silently in Dean’s arms. “Balls.”

They pulled into the motel parking lot and Dean carried Sam to their room. Bobby followed them and took the key out of Sam’s jeans pocket. He unlocked the door and went to the nearest bed to begin unpacking his first aid supplies. Dean lay Sam down on the bed. He took out his pocketknife and slit the left leg of Sam’s jeans from ankle to knee. Dean went into the bathroom and filled the sink with warm water. He got one of the washcloths and dunked it in the water. It felt good on his blistering hand. He couldn’t think about that now. He had to focus on Sammy. He went back to Sam and took off his socks and shoes. Dean began to gently wash the dried blood off . When he got close to the piece of wood Sam began to pull his leg away, but Dean grabbed hold of Sam’s ankle.   
“You gotta stay still, Sammy.”  
Sam opened his eyes and looked at Dean, clearly miserable.   
“We’ll be done soon, I promise.”  
Bobby took a look at Sam’s leg. “That’s quite the splinter you have there. Dean, you’re going to have to hold him down. Sam, you’re going to want to, but don’t move ok?”  
Dean moved around to the other side of the bed He put his hand on Sam’s left knee and then turned so he was looking at his little brother. He nodded at Bobby and then put his hand on Sam’s shoulder, pushing it down into the mattress.  
“Sam don’t look at Bobby, you look at me, ok, Sammy look at me.”  
Sam’s hazel eyes focused on Dean.  
“There you go.”

This was going to be painful, there was no way around that. Bobby believed he could get the wood out in one solid piece as long as Sam didn’t move while he did it. Then it would just be the matter of stitching it up.  “Here we go boys.”  
“Sammy listen, you’re going to take a deep breath and let it out, do that for me three times ok?”  
Dean took his hand off of Sam’s knee for just a second and flashed three fingers at Bobby. As Sam exhaled for the third time, Bobby extracted the wood from his calf. The boy fisted the covers, but he didn’t move or cry out.   
“Good job, Sammy, just a little bit more.”  
Bobby cleaned the gash which ran the length of Sam’s calf. That caused a few tears, but the stitching itself was smooth because Dean kept talking to Sam about some field in Kansas that was full of sunflowers or some such fool thing. When Bobby was finished, Dean went and got a glass of water and a couple of Tylenol for Sam. Dean swallowed a couple himself. His head was starting to pound and his hand was starting to hurt as well. Neither one of them wanted to dope Sam up too much until they got him to Bobby’s.

Bobby packed his gear up and then grabbed a couple of blankets from the closet and the pillows from the empty bed. He made a makeshift bed in the bed of the truck. Sam would be more comfortable if he could keep his leg stretched out and that wasn’t going to happen in the cab. When he got back to the room, Dean had managed to get Sam changed into both a sweatshirt and some sweatpants. Bobby put some socks on Sam’s feet while Dean gathered up their stuff from the room. Bobby took the stuff and Dean got into the bed of the truck with Sam.   
After a look at the gas gauge, Bobby headed for downtown to fill up the tank. Dean sat in the back of the truck with his hand on Sam’s shoulder. He could feel Sam shivering.   
Dean put his hands underneath Sam’s armpits and hauled him up against his chest making sure that Sam was under his jacket.  
“Better?”  
Dean could feel Sammy nod against his chest. 

Bobby pulled into the gas station and Dean looked across the street. There was the pizza place that he was supposed to meet Missy and her friends at hours ago. Missy was wearing her cheerleading uniform and sitting on some guy’s lap trying to suck the tongue out of his face.   
“Sorry.”  
Dean looked down at Sammy who was also staring at the group across the street.  
“You’d be with her right now, if-”  
Dean could see tears starting to well up in Sammy’s eyes.  
“Hey,” Dean said, pushing the bangs away from Sam’s forehead and finding it warmer than it should have been.   
“I know I’m a pain in your ass, I get in the way. You shouldn’t have to take care of me.”  
“Why do you think that?”  
Sam wouldn’t look at him.   
“Did Missy say something to you?” Sam started to pull away from him.   
“Stop Sam, you’re going to hurt yourself. I’m not gonna be mad, just tell me who said that to you?”  
“I heard you say it to Missy.” “I didn’t, I don’t-”  
“Yesterday when you were waiting for me at my locker.”  
“Sonofabitch.”  
“I thought maybe if I could get rid of the ghost then, Dad wouldn’t make you take care of me and you could be happy, you never get to be happy.”  
Sam was really starting to cry and had settled back into Dean’s jacket so that no one could see him. “But I screwed it up and now we have to leave and-”  
Dean buried his face in Sam’s hair. Sam could have gotten killed tonight and all because he’d said what some stupid girl had wanted to hear. It would never happen again. Sammy was first, always. 

They were out of Evansville on the road and the only light was coming from the stars as Bobby headed for South Dakota. Sam couldn’t seem to get comfortable. Dean spoke.  
“You know Sam, sometimes I say stupid stuff.”  
Sam didn’t say anything but Dean knew he was listening.  
“I didn’t mean it.”  
“It’s ok.”  
“Alright, but when we tell Dad, we leave that part out and about the librarian getting the jump on me, make you the hero.”  
“Hey, I’m the one who burned her.”  
“Yeah, you did, didn’t you Sammy, but one thing, you gotta promise me.”  
“What?”  
“No more solo hunting, we’re a team.””  
“Really, you would want to hunt with me?”  
“I know you’ve always got my back and you know I’ve got yours, right Sammy?”  
“Yeah, but,  
“But what?”  
“If you don’t want me to tell Dad, you owe me some peanut noodles.”  
“Sure thing, peanut.”  
“Whatever you jerk.”  
“If you boys don’t go to sleep back there, I’ll make you walk to South Dakota.”

Of course things didn’t go smooth. Sam ran a fever and his leg got infected. So Bobby and Dean spent the next two weeks nursing him and Dean read Sam The Dark is Rising books. He never would admit it, but he liked them too. They were full of action and all kinds of Welsh myths. So they all missed the article that came out in the Evansville Courier.

LIBRARIAN FOUND DEAD

ANGELA GARFIELD WAS FOUND HUNG TO DEATH IN THE BASEMENT OF THE WILLARD LIBRARY, EARLY MONDAY MORNING.  
THERE IS NO POLICE INVESTIGATION PLANNED AT THIS TIME SINCE IT SEEMS NO OTHER PARTY WAS INVOLVED.  
MS. GARFIELD LEAVES BEHIND NO FAMILY.  
SHE WILL BE SORELY MISSED BY THE COMMUNITY SHE SERVED THESE PAST 13 YEARS.


End file.
